Nick Monohan
| aliases = Chief Monohan | series = The Gates | image = | gender = | notability = | occupation = | base of operations = The Gates, Washington | known relatives = Sarah Monohan (wife); Charlie Monohan (son); Dana Monohan (daughter) | status = | born = 1963 (approx) Date approximated based upon the age of actor Frank Grillo. | died = | 1st appearance = "Pilot" | final appearance = "Moving Day" | actor = Frank Grillo }} Nick Monohan is one of the main characters featured in the ABC television series The Gates. He is played by actor Frank Grillo. Monohan is the new chief of police for The Gates community and finds that there is more to this inclusive upper-class neighborhood than meets the eye. Biography Chicago Nick Monohan was a homicide detective from Chicago, Illinois. He was known for being completely committed to his work to the point of obsession - a trait that yielded some tension between his wife and he. An incident occurred, which caused enough controversey that it forced Nick to abandon his position. An alleged rapist and murderer named Wolcott had been arrested, but Nick knew that the District Attorney's office had a very weak case and there was every likelihood that Wolcott would be set free. Nick took the law into his own hands and shot Wolcott, killing him. In his report to Internal Affairs, he claimed that the man had reached into his pocket, presumably to draw a weapon, so Nick acted in self defense. His superiors ruled the act as justified, but Nick retired from the police department just the same. (Pilot; "The Monster Within") The Gates Washington land developer Frank Buckley learned of Nick Monohan and hired him as the chief of police for an exclusive, insular community called The Gates. He provided Nick and his family with an opulent home and an impressive salary. It was Buckley's belief that the city council would be able to steer Nick towards the cases that they wanted him to concentrate on, while misdirecting him from matters that they would otherwise prefer to keep private. Sarah believed that the move would give them a second chance and she had hoped to leave all of the tension of Chicago behind them. Nick took up his post at The Gates police station and met his deputies Leigh Turner and Marcus Jordan. Leigh told him that the former police chief, Phelps, had retired and moved to Mexico. Nick wasted no time in getting down to business. On his first day on the job he began investigating the disappearance of a contractor from Franklin named Mark Woodbury. He learned that Mark had been involved in an automobile accident outside the home of Dylan and Claire Radcliff. As he looked into the matter, he began to suspect that the Radcliffs may have been involved in the man's disappearance. He tried to get the D.A. to issue a warrant to search the Radcliffs' home, but when Buckley learned of this, he used his influence to quash the investigation. Nick was undeterred however and continued to investigate the Radcliffs' connection to Mark Woodbury. ("Pilot") Murder at The Gates Nick's investigation was detoured however in light of a more pressing matter. He discovered the body of his predecessor with a bullet hole in the back of the head. Chief Phelps had not moved to Mexico as Nick had been led to believe. He began looking into the matter to see who within The Gates would have cause to harm the chief. He learned about a former police officer named Chad Taylor who was fired from his position for insubordination. Taylor told Monohan that Phelps was corrupt and that he had fired him after he learned about a string of case files that the chief had destroyed. Two of these case files related to incidents involving Claire Radcliff as well as a man named Simon Ford. Nick met with each of them and came to discover that Phelps had been blackmailing various residents for large sums of money. He then learned that Phelps had purchased an SUV three months prior to his death. He had Turner run a fingerprint analysis on the vehicle, which led him back to Chad Taylor, who had claimed that it over a year since he last saw Phelps. Monohan went to Chad's house where Turner discovered a handgun of the same caliber used in the murder. Nick arrested Chad Taylor, but noticed something else of interest - a box of expensive herbal tea purchased from the Devon Day Spa. Nick found this to be a curious thing for a man who had been out of work for a year to have in his home. Nick went to interview the spa's owner, Devon Buckley, but was able to get little information from her regarding Taylor save that she sold her merchandise to customers outside The Gates as well. ("What Lies Beneath") Nick's pursuit of the matter was put on hold so he could focus his attention on a string of bizarre robberies taking place throughout The Gates. After responding to numerous false alarms, Monohan deduced that somebody had hacked into The Gates security systems and was setting off random silent alarms to distract the police from his real targets. After interviewing dozens of suspects, Nick learned that a history teacher named Mister Abernathy was the one responsible for the robberies. He arrested Abernathy in his home, but he later made bail after all of his loot was returned to its proper owners. ("Breach") Sins of the Past Nick Monohan's past soon came back to haunt him. The night of the 5th Annual Father/Daughter Dance at The Gates coincided with the one-year anniversary of the night he shot the murder suspect in Chicago. He finally told Sarah the truth about what had happened and admitted that the man he shot was not armed as he had claimed in the official report. That evening, he took Dana to the dance. When the event was over, a photographer named Teresa Goodwin lured him outside of the dance hall. Teresa, who had recently begun dating Nick's deputy Marcus Jordan, pulled a gun on him and revealed her true name to be Amanda Wolcott. Amanda was the brother of the man he killed in Chicago and now she was looking for revenge. She led Nick into the woods and told him how she intended on killing him then going after his family. Suddenly, Dylan Radcliff leaped from out of the shadows and pounced on Amanda before she had the chance to shoot Nick. Bearing his vampire fangs, he tore out her throat, killing her. Nick was stunned and had to adjust his perceived view of reality to now include the existence of vampire. ("The Monster Within") New "Friends" Nick had great difficulty accepting the idea that he was now living in a community filled with vampires. He questioned Dylan extensively on the subject, but had yet to bring himself to fully trust him. As it was however, Nick owed the vampire his life and he committed himself to covering up the death of Teresa Goodwin. Dylan disposed of the body, but Nick wasn't satisfied with this course of action and wanted to know where her remains were buried. Marcus Jordan took note of Teresa's sudden disappearance and began pressing Nick to open an investigation into it. Nick tried to sideline the issue, but Marcus was determined to get to the bottom of the matter. Against his orders, Marcus went to the Radcliff residence and began interrogating Dylan. Dylan, who thought that Jordan had come there under Nick's instruction, flew into a rage. He attacked Nick in the woods and warned him against sending his officers to his house again. Nick was embarrassed over the matter and admonished Jordan for disobeying him. That evening, Gates developer Frank Buckley hosted a special party at his home welcoming Nick Monohan to The Gates as their new chief of police. Nick was uncomfortable about going, but began to realize that he if he were to continue to live here, he needed to begin trusting people - people like Dylan Radcliff. ("Repercussions") Another murder Nick's next case involved the death of town gossip Barbara Jansen, who had apparently been killed by a vampire. Nick was the first one to discover the body and he immediately contacted Dylan. Dylan met up with him at the morgue to inspect the body. They found two puncture wounds on the sides of her neck. Dylan promised to scope out the known vampires in the vicinity while Nick approached the crime from a more professional angle. The two people who had the strongest connection to Barbara was her ex-husband Alex Dupree and her business partner Gloria Bennett. He interviewed Gloria first and learned that the two women co-owned the B & G Dress Shop on Main Street. He also discovered that Gloria was a vampire, thus making her his prime suspect. He next went to Alex Dupree's home on Terry Lane to tell him the news of his ex-wife's death. Alex, though grieving, told Nick that their divorce had been amicable and that Barbara had needs that he could no longer supply. Regardless, Nick wanted Alex to provide an account for his whereabouts on the night in question. As he investigated the matter further, he came to discover that Gloria was not only Barbara's professional partner, but her personal one as well. Gloria confessed to finding Barbara's body lying bleeding on the floor of their shop. She tried to save her by turning her into a vampire, but it was too late, and Barbara died. Despite this, Nick tried to arrest her, but Gloria protested, telling him that if the other vampires learned about what had happened, they would execute her. As it turned out, the others did discover Gloria's involvement in the matter and abducted her. Nick continued to investigate until he came up with evidence linking Alex Dupree's black sedan to the B & G Dress Shop on the night the murder took place. He returned to Alex's house and Dupree confessed that he went to the shop to try to get Barbara back. They argued and he grabbed her. Barbara fell backward, hitting her head on a coffee table. Alex panicked and fled the scene. After hearing his confession, Nick arrested him. When Gloria was exonerated, the vampires let her go and she went to the police station to personally express her gratitude to Nick for solving the case. Her appreciation helped Monohan to realize that not all vampires were crazed killers. It was at this time that Nick gave serious consideration towards moving out of The Gates. He contacted a homicide detective he knew in Miami named Evelyn Williams and put in a request for a transfer. Solving the Jansen murder helped him to put things into perspective however and he decided not to take the job. Frank Buckley contacted Nick and invited him over to his house for a private meeting. Frank voiced his displeasure with Buckley's secrecy and let him know that he was aware of the vampires living at The Gates. Frank told him that his greatest priority was protecting the secrets of those living in the community and made a veiled threat about what could happen should Frank decide to leave The Gates. Knowing that Buckley was now spying on him, Frank grew enraged. Before he could voice his discontent even further, Dylan Radcliff arrived and Buckley showed them a video recording of the night that Dylan and Nick killed Teresa Goodwin. ("Jurisdiction") Leverage Nick and Dylan decided that they needed to get leverage on Frank Buckley to prevent him from blackmailing them. They began looking into Buckley's background and found that he once had a falling out with a former partner named W.R. Harrison. Harrison died of an accidental fall many years ago, but Frank grew suspicious about what had become of the man's financial assets. They spoke with Lloyd Foster, the CFO of The Gates Trust and tried to get Harrison's will. They learned that a shell company had been set up to manage profits from The Gates and Nick began to suspect that Buckley may have murdered his old partner. Nick and Dylan exhumed Harrison's remains so they could posititvely determine whether he was in fact murdered. Afterward, Nick boldly accused Frank of killing him, which Buckley vehemently denied. It turned out that Frank truly was innocent of the crime. When Nick met up with Lloyd Foster again, he heard him comment on details regarding Harrison's death that were never released to the public. Soon after, Nick realized that Foster was the murderer. Nick followed Foster to The Gates Trust offices and burst into the door just in time to prevent Lloyd from killing Frank Buckley. ("Digging the Dirt") Vampires vs. Werewolves Nick soon became involved in a domestic dispute between two of The Gates' leading citizens: Ben McAllister and Simon Ford. While attending a Homeowners Association meeting, he broke up a fight between the two that had erupted over a minor matter. Nick knew that Ben was a vampire, but Dylan assured him that Simon Ford was not. The following day, Simon Ford was found brutally beaten on his front lawn and taken to the hospital. Nick immediately suspected Ben McAllister and called him in for questioning. Ben had an airtight alibi however and tried to further steer suspicion away from him by listing members of the community who also had reason to hate Simon Ford, such as Coach Ross. Nick then interviewed Coach Ross and learned that Simon and he had an altercation with one another several years back when Ross first moved into The Gates. The coach likewise had an alibi and admitted that he had long ago gotten over any ill will he may have had towards Simon. Nick went to the Fords' home and interviewed his wife Joan and his son Lukas. Lukas said he had been listening to his headphones on the morning of the attack and never heard a thing. When Nick went to visit Simon in the hospital, he found that he had escaped from his room by leaping out the window. Hospital surveillance footage showed Simon sprinting across the blacktop. Marcus Jordan and he continued to look into his disappearance and discovered a cell phone on the ground. Nick and Marcus probed further and found that the phone belonged to Karen Crezski. Nick went to Karen's house that evening and began sneaking about through the bushes. He overheard her inside speaking with Coach Ross. Karen and Ross heard Nick as well and Ross broke through the window to drag Nick inside. Nick then learned the truth about the other half of the people living at The Gates. They were werewolves. Karen and Ross revealed that vampires and werewolves did not readily get along with one another and that Simon Ford was Pack Alpha of all the werewolves living at The Gates. If it came out that his attacker was a vampire, it would spark a violent rivalry between the two groups. Nick asked how Ross heard him from outside and he revealed that werewolves have exceptionally acute hearing. He then asked him if a werewolf would ever wear headphones, to which Ross replied, "No". Nick then realized that Lukas had been lying to him about listening to his headset on the morning that his father was hurt. He returned to the Ford residence and accused Lukas of attacking his father. The teenage boy finally confessed to the crime, citing that his father was an abusive drunk who always hit his mother. Nick elected to not press charges against Lukas. Simon Ford visited Nick's home shortly thereafter. He told him that he was leaving The Gates and warned him that vampires and werewolves could never coexist. A war was coming. ("Dog Eat Dog") Notes & Trivia * The character of was created by Grant Scharbo and Richard Hatem. * Nick Monohan's background is similar to that of Sheriff Jack Carter, the main character from the Syfy channel television series Eureka. * Nick Monohan served in the Chicago Police Department for fifteen years. Revealed when he told Sarah the truth about the Chicago shooting incident in "The Monster Within" See also External links References ---- Category:1963/Character births